The Unchanging Christ
Hebrews 13:8
There are three important questions whose answers will tell the story of whether or not folks have the most fundamental agreement necessary to work together in Christian ministry: Who is Jesus, what is the most significant thing that He did, and what does that mean to you?
Jesus is the virgin born, sinless, Son of God, who has existed with the Father from eternity, and who is co-equal with God. His birth was like none other before or after. With God all things are possible, and here is sterling example of that very fact. He never, one time, committed sin. Never does a day go by that we can lay our heads on the pillow and honestly say, “Lord, I’ve done everything just right today. There’s not one thing that I’ve left undone, and my every thought, word, and deed has brought glory to Your name.” We are, as the Apostle Paul said of himself, in Romans 7, in a constant struggle between our new nature and the body of death which we have to drag around with us. The things we want to do, we are never quite able to accomplish, and what we don’t want to do, we wind up doing; but, not Jesus! Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
As to the most significant thing Jesus did, He paid the penalty for the sins of all who would believe on His name. Second Corinthians 5:21 says, “He who knew no sin, was made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Now, we can sing, “Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow!”
What does that mean to me? John 8:38 says, “If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.” Jesus paid so that I will not have to. I’m free!
The text says, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.” You don’t have to be Matthew Henry to know that means He never changes. Whatever He has ever been, he is, and He will always be. I heard the late Ron Dunn tell about hearing two women in conversation, one of whom had a son who had been involved in an auto accident where the young man riding with him was killed. The other woman was expressing how thankful she was that her friend’s son had been spared, to which the friend said, “Yes, God is good.” Ron Dunn said that, of course, God is good, but if this woman’s son had been killed, also, would God not still be good? The answer is, “Yes, if He has ever been good, He is still good, and He will always be good.” So, even in our most difficult situations, God is good.
It is said that yesterday has passed and cannot be changed, but when we bring God into the equation, all things are possible. Jesus steps into our yesterday and takes away the guilt and shame. There are things in my life that if I could go back and do over, I would surely do differently. While those things are in my history, I have no shame or guilt, because Jesus has put them under His Blood. He has cast them into the depths of the sea, He has put them as far away as the East is from the West. It is not by accident that Jesus used East and West instead of North and South. There is a North Pole and a South Pole, but there is not East Pole or West Pole. You can travel far enough North, that you will start going South again, but if you travel East or West, you will continually go that direction! Jesus has blessed my yesterdays by not only forgiving my sins, but He has also forgotten them! They will never be called against me again. When the devil climbs up on my shoulder and tries to remind me of my past, I just remind him of his future! I can joyfully say, “Get thee behind me, Satan, God has put that under the Blood and He has forgotten it, so there’s no need for me to worry about it!”
He is good in my today. Hebrews 13:5 tells me that He will never leave me nor forsake me. He is with me. What else do I need? I can get up each day and say, “Thank You Father for this great day. This is a day that You have made, and I will rejoice in it. I am Yours, and You are mine, Whatever I face today, You are going to be right there with me. No weapon formed against me shall prosper, and if You are for me, who can be against me?” Today is a day of opportunities and unlimited possibilities, because I am a child of the King. Yes, I live in a fallen world, and yes, I cry out, “Who shall deliver me from this body of death?” But, while that is true, I know that greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world. I know that there is victory in Jesus. He’s good in my today.
Then, this text says that He is the same forever. I recently heard a man praying, and at the end of his prayer, he said, “When our time on earth is done, we pray that we might have a home in heaven.” I’m not praying like that! That’s already a done deal. Second Corinthians 5:1 says, “For we know that our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” The Bible didn’t say that we have a chance for it, but it says that we know we have it. I don’t know what will happen in the future, but I know that Jesus is Lord of the future, and I know He is good, I can trust Him completely, and He will always do right by me.
Beloved, if you can get that truth down in your soul and breathe it, eat and sleep with it, live by it, it will make all the difference in your life. The answer to every problem is Jesus. He is good. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever!
